Imagine standing in an arid and desolate desert, surrounded by nothing but an infinite expanse of sand. Now imagine skiing down a snowy slope in zero-degree weather in that same exact desert. It might seem slightly ludicrous, but that’s what we got to experience in the world’s largest indoor ski resort, Ski Dubai. 

During our week-long stay in UAE (United Arab Emirates), the last thing I expected was to ski, or even more, get numbed fingers from the cold. We were in UAE for a week, mostly in Dubai, and almost every location (especially buildings) we went to was an utter shock of astonishment. The entire city was insane, and seeing this was built in a sweltering desert in a mere generation, I found it hard to believe this place existed. The world’s tallest skyscrapers, biggest malls, largest fountains, and more towers than you can even count overwhelmed your view of the city and distracted you into seeing too many things at once. 

One of the worst things about this place is their lack of natural resources, especially fresh water, meaning they have a massive dependence on desalination factories which only means the country is increasingly becoming more unsustainable. What’s worse is UAE’s average per capita water consumption is the highest globally, averaging over 500 liters (132 gallons) for one individual every single day! (e.g. A/C units, water for gardening, drinking water, etc.)

Our plan for the day was to visit the Mall of the Emirates, as well as the other attractions nearby such as Palm Jumeirah and Burj Al Arab. As we approached the second biggest mall, the shape of a sloped building popped above the rest, revealing the iconic indoor ski resort. It took us some time to find our way there, but once we did, the view of the white slopes was hard to miss. The imperfect snow glistened from the mall’s bright lights, majestically overlooking Santa’s village which was lined with several miniature yet fluffy, dark green pines. Seeing the life-sized snow globe through a mall window was like perceiving a desert mirage in real life. It felt too unnatural and outlandish to be in a desert or heck, even in a mall! As I peered through the thick window and into the winter wonderland containing the dozens of zig-zagging skiers, the last thing I expected was to be one of them. 

The view from the inside was even more incredible than from the outside. I once skied in Japan, and all I can say is I certainly did not enter the resort via an escalator. I mean, picture this: a tranquil snowy landscape, and BOOM! A guy in skiing goggles, wearing five layers of clothing, emerging from an automatic sliding glass door, skis in hand. Where else on earth can you “apparate” from nowhere like that? 

The ski resort had everything you could possibly need in a ski resort. There were two ski lifts, one main slope, a small (and unquestionably fake) Christmas-themed village, and other wintery sports such as sledding. Since we only had two hours inside, our plan was to ski down (the slope) as many times as humanly possible. We averaged a time of about ten minutes per slope, i.e. going on the ski lift, getting off, and skiing back down, and we essentially did this until our time ran out. 

One of the main differences between skiing here compared to normal slopes was undoubtedly the surrounding backdrop. Whenever you looked up and thought you were going to see distant snow-capped peaks, you would instead see walls painted to look like the sky or an overpriced cafe on the other side of the mall windows. It felt like you were in The Truman Show, everything staged and being “too perfect to be real”. It might have been exciting while we were at it, but at the end of the day, all this is is a massive unsustainable box like most other buildings in the UAE, slowly accumulating greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere and increasing global warming. How much cooling is needed for this building is only just a minor factor in the emissions from the country, but if their larger and more impressive projects continue, we can only guess what may happen to the future of this world. From being absurdly poor to being home to the craziest buildings in a single generation, their enormous dependence on their only resource – gas – is what’s keeping them alive and from crumbling. 

Although we only were here for 6 days, it was a massive culture shock, especially flying to Sri Lanka straight after – the complete opposite of the UAE. I couldn’t see how people could happily live in this kind of civilization, fake from all angles with unnecessary doodads everywhere you walked. The one thing I found here that was most surprising however was the country’s origins. From the nomadic lifestyle to driving lavish supercars, I wonder what the nation will look like in the near future – possibly even in the next generation – whether it will be an economic success or failure and whether the impact on its climate will be too severe to be reversible. 

Other Notable Things We Did in the UAE

  • Abu Dhabi Louvre Museum (Drone Show)
  • Abu Dhabi Grand Mosque
  • Old Souk
  • Al Ain Oasis

Fun Fact: Only one generation ago, the Sheikh’s palace and residence were here. Now look where he lives.

  • Global Village

One of the interesting things about this place was their slightly controversial view of the world and its countries. For example, the North American section was one of the smallest sections, and their theme was an old western town. (That was the only section for USA, Canada, etc.)